Tim Hawk/Gloucester County TimesFreedom From Religion group is asking Pitman to take down the banner that hangs across Broadway asking people to âKeep Christ in Christmas .â Staff Photo by Tim Hawk/Gloucester County Times

PITMAN — The “Keep Christ in Christmas” banner that has caught the attention of a national religious group — and caused quite a stir in this small, religious community — may not be the only one of its kind to be displayed in town.

Dick Salmon, the original printer of the sign some 10 to 15 years ago, said he dusted off the old graphic he used to create the Knights of Columbus sign and is using it to print up some new ones.

“That way, the people that want to say something can say it,” said Salmon, who owns Salmon signs on West Holly Avenue.

Salmon said on Wednesday he started printing up the small signs — either 2 inch by 12 inch bumper stickers or 5 inch by 24 inch signs — and was selling them at cost.

“They’re just showing support for the banner,” Salmon said. “We have a right to be a Christian town.”

While the foundation of the borough’s Methodist camp roots isn’t being questioned, the large banner that’s strung across Broadway is — by a national organization aimed at keeping religion separate from government.

The FFRF, which says it has 300 members in New Jersey, said a Pitman resident alerted them to the sign after spotting the borough’s fire department putting it up over the county-maintained road.

“It shouldn’t be on a county right of way because the government doesn’t have a religion,” Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation told the Times on Monday. “The government shouldn’t take sides on religious debates.”

“We found out that the banner is attached on one end to the old bank — which is privately owned — and on the other end it’s connected to an Atlantic City Electric or Verizon pole which the borough does not own,” Solicitor Brian Duffield said. “Also, Broadway is a county — not a borough — road. Everything related to the sign is not on Pitman public property.”

Duffield said the only regulations for the sign would be through the zoning office and he has contacted the head of that department to review the records to see if the Knights of Columbus obtained a permit for it.

FFRF wants the banner taken down and moved, but Duffield said it’s not that simple.

“We don’t have the authority to just take the banner down. The only thing we can do is address it through a zoning ordinance.”

Salmon, like others, believes the banner shouldn’t be moved at all.

“All it says is Christmas is Christ’s birthday,” he said. “It’s a matter of our right to be what we are and we’re not violating anybody’s principals. If (Gaylor) doesn’t like the banner, don’t look up.”